Mini Make A Difference Day

Natasha Kerllenevich, RDH led our Mini Make a Difference Day yesterday at our Dental Clinic. Sixty children were examined by dentists then had their teeth cleaned by dental hygienists and students. Food was provided by Pavilions, El Torito and the California Pizza Kitchen. Volunteers from Kohl's helped organize the flow of patient care and provided toys as gifts to the children and made a $1,500 donation – this was a Great Day!

Leila Maghdam, DDS

Meet Dr Leila Maghdam a new dentist at our dental program. Dr Maghdam and her husband who is also a dentist, toured our Clinic and were very impressed. Dr. Leila Maghdam began volunteering today and her husband will begin in a few weeks. They live in Woodland Hills and in Bakersfield and are looking forward to coming in to the Free Clinic at least once a month. How's that for commitment!

News Update

Much going on around the Free Clinic recently. In September we received a donation of panaflex x-ray machine for our Dental Clinic. This devise allows the dentist to x-ray all the teeth at once to better determine there relationship to one another. This is especially helpful when extrcting wisdom teeth. Also in September the Clinic received a $15,000 grant from Alcoa Fastening Systems. Alcoa is very committed to supporting the charities in their community.

On Friday October 2nd the Clinic hosted the United Blood Services Bloodmobile http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/ The first Friday of everymonth the Free Clinic Sponsors a blood drive. Supplies of blood have run low due to the demand following the recent Metrolink train disaster.

And finally, today we hosted a luncheon at Marie Callenders for our volunteer dentists. Eight were able to attend and all had a great time.

Whew! What a day!!

Today the dental clinic opened at 9:00 a.m. with Dr Joise Dovidio and Dr Joe Cheng. They along with volunteers from Oxnard College Dental Assistant Program treated patients until 3:00 when Dr Ean Kleiger arrived to see even more patient up to 6:00 tonight. These are some photographs from the activities this morning. Note the DVD player showing a movie while a patient waits for Dr Dovidio.

Dr. Tantraphol treated medical patients at our Medical Clinic from 9 a.m. to Noon today as well.

Eagle Project

Nicolas Blume has completed his Boy Scout Eagle Project which was to convert one of the operatories at our Dental Clinic into a pediatric operatory. Nic and his team removed everything from the walls and painted them light blue. Then they painted clouds and balloons and kites on the walls and installed a flat screen TV with a DVD player. Now the children, having dental work done, can watch their favorite movies and imagine kites and clouds floating by. Thanks Nic!

Braces

Dictionary.com defines the word orthodonture
noun the branch of dentistry dealing with the prevention or correction of irregularities of the teeth [syn: orthodontics]. The Free Clinic of Simi Valley is proud to add this service to the list of services now offered at our full service Dental Program. Yes, we now are offering braces to our list of dental services making our Dental Program unparalleled in Ventura County and most of Southern California. Since we do not have the supplies and equipment necessary to offer this service, patients will be referred to Dr. Steven Parle who will be assisted by our own Olga Lafflitto and the doctor will donate his time and supplies and treat the patient in his office. This service will be limited but as we are fond of saying her at the Free Clinic of Simi Valley, ‘It’s only the beginning”.

Smile

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are two-thousand words.